Isak’s goal dumps City out of Carabao Cup

Newcastle produced a transformed second-half performance to knock Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup, with Aleksander Isak’s strike sending last season’s finalists into the fourth round, where they will face Manchester United.

The home side were almost entirely on the back foot during the first 45 minutes at St James’ Park, with City dominating possession and territory and only denied an opener when Nick Pope’s outstretched foot blocked Julian Alvarez’s shot.

But Newcastle took encouragement from a late chance for Jacob Murphy in that half and, with extra attacking emphasis coming from a double change at the break, they came out flying in the second period, with Isak striking eight minutes after the restart.

Man City had looked a class apart when these sides met in the Premier League in August but with both teams making substantial changes City failed to recapture their early authority.

A Jack Grealish shot from distance was about as threatening as they got before the excellent Tino Livramento – on his first start – made a fine tackle on Matheus Nunes in the box late on and Rico Lewis fizzed a low drive narrowly wide.

The result means that, for a third season in a row, Pep Guardiola’s side have crashed out early from a cup competition they once considered their own when they won four editions straight between 2018-2021. This was their first defeat of the season.

As for Newcastle – tasting victory against Man City for the first time in 11 meetings – they can dream of Wembley again, although they’ll need to beat their conquerors in last year’s final, Man Utd, to go one better this year. That tie will be played in the week of October 30.

Source: Sky Sports